French police on Saturday fired tear gas at a group of protesters who split off from a "yellow vest" march underway in Paris for an eighth consecutive weekend, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2019) French police on Saturday fired tear gas at a group of protesters who split off from a "yellow vest" march underway in Paris for an eighth consecutive weekend, a Sputnik correspondent reported.Demonstrators gathered in the morning outside the downtown Hotel de Ville housing the city's administration.
Protesters were heard singing the national anthem and calling on President Emmanuel Macron to stand down. Another group assembled on the Champs Elysees avenue.
The march began at round 2:00 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT), with thousands heading toward the parliament building past the landmark Notre Dame cathedral.
The Sputnik correspondent said that at one point a small group separated from the main crowd of protesters and tried to provoke police officers, who responded with tear gas.
Protests are also underway in several other major cities, including Marseille and Rouen. Rallies against a planned hike in fuel taxes began in mid-November but soon morphed into a nationwide outcry against the rising cost of living, with thousands clashing with police in Paris last month.
